AN ESSAY ON THE SINGAPORE STORY described with many famous literary and historical names.

From the outside, Singapore appears to be such an Alice-in-Wonderland place. Its Bohemian formula for politics and social harmony has led many commentators to unjustly accuse it of having a Chauvinist population.  In reality, its very survival in the early days and its subsequent prosperity is nothing short of a Darwinian miracle. With a natural Asian dislike for Epicurean pursuits, its hard-working people has no Freudian anxieties when meeting the Gothic political and social challenges from both sides of its borders.  The Herculean efforts of its first-generation leaders assisted by Iago-like stealth and sometimes Jekyll-and-Hyde contrivances had brought them from the Third World to the First in one generation!


Yet, in the 21st Century, its younger generation has become impatient with the Kafkaesque character of this tightly-regulated country.  Adherence to the old philosophy is deemed to be Luddite and the Machiavellian application of strict laws seems too severe for the new Narcissistic zeitgeist.  An aversion to Orwellian control by the state and a distaste for Pavlovian compliance by the people have become the political fashion of the day.


An erstwhile Philistine people, Singaporeans have now matured and now desire a more Platonic relationship with the State.  Should we worry that its new social compact and fresh freedoms prove to only be a Pyrrhic victory at the cost of lowered efficiency and a decline in economic competitiveness?  Will their new Quixotic attitudes sustain the Rubenesque proportions of their economic growth? Will it turn out to be a war between the economic Sadists and the political masochists. The greatest fear is the possible Sisyphean waste of effort and opportunity as its neighbors forge ahead relentlessly.


Perhaps, we should let them continue with their own Socratic inquiry into the pre-requisites of good governance.  Perhaps, the time of Spartan survivalism and the Stoic acceptance of high-handed political expediency are over.  Singaporeans must find their own Teutonic path to their Utopian dream of continued prosperity and harmony, free from the social paralysis brought about by the Warholian movements of protest and social anarchy seen in many Western nations.  We can only wish them well in their efforts!